Competing against the government

[bucket]

NCC buys the Mackie ranch...

"""""It says financial support from donors and partners, including the federal government’s Natural Heritage Conservation Program, made the project possible.""""

[ajl]

Always hate hearing about stories like this about people who want to control land from the grave in order to screw the next generation. Have been more ranches like this that have been 'preserved' unfortunately. All that happens is that these areas will revert to wilderness.

[bucket]

Always hate hearing about stories like this about people who want to control land from the grave in order to screw the next generation. Have been more ranches like this that have been 'preserved' unfortunately. All that happens is that these areas will revert to wilderness.

NCC will never sell land . So there will be limited chance to use the land and it was government money that bought the land.

NCC was given 100 million in the federal budget prior to the pandemic.

And yet there is limited hope for a young guy to start out when bidding against government free money.

[Sheepwheat]

Someone needs to conserve and preserve. It sure isn’t farmers around me doing it. A neighbor sold some land and had put an easement on it. If ppl didn’t do that there wouldn’t be a stitch of natural habitat left for future enjoyment.

I get your point in theory. But good grief. On one hand farmers claim to be so “environmentally friendly”, and think city folks should agree because they zero till. The truth is that all the city people see is drained lakes and flattened trees. Trackhoes, cats, and s c r a pers removing obstructions to farming. I talk to a lot more city people than the average farmer most likely does. And they have questions. For farmers to think they are on board, or feel like they should automatically think we farmers are environmentally friendly because we zero till, is a fallacy that needs to be overcome. But I don’t see it happening.

Here are the top comments people from the cities ask me.

Why do farmers spray their ready to harvest crops?
Why are they spraying so much all summer, and what with?
Why are farmers draining all the water recharge ponds?
Why are farmers knocking down all the trees?
Why are farmers knocking down the tree rows?

I had one particularly enlightening conversation I will never forget that included all of the above questions, and many more. Farmers used to be respected, looked up to, and even dare I say admired. Now we are misunderstood, and are not being very proactive about maintaining or helping our reputations among urban types.

I guarantee that city folks would be excited to see land preserved and protected from corner to corner farming. Because their perception, while not entirely accurate, does have something to it.

I believe we need to have good answers for those kinds of questions. I try my best to explain. But it isn’t easy any more.

Urbanites see what is going on. Don’t be surprised when they pressure governments to regulate land usage. I can see it coming..

[shtferbrains]

I agree the image you describe is widely held even at out table when people who were born here come for holidays.

Yellowstone is one of the most watched tv shows now.
Last episode brought professional anarchists in as part of the subplot. The whole thing revolves around keeping big money progessives from taking over.

Hope we see more of that in copy cat and same theme type productions.
Might be hard to hire actors but who knows?

[ajl]

There are good answers to the questions posed: 1) To control late flush weeds and to even maturity. I agree that there is some unnecessary spraying but in most cases pre harvest roundup is great tool to have and results in increased production and better quality. I still swath but do use pre harvest roundup when necessary 2) Farming around bluffs and sloughs are a drain on efficiency and it is difficult to eliminate overlap. Eliminating overlap and increasing efficiency is very environmentally friendly. 3) Farmers are spraying weeds, bugs, and plant disease. Yes this is a very pest filled environment and the spraying does increase yield and quality most of the time. Sometimes this is dubious but most spraying that is done accomplishes the objective. When to use fungicide or not is likely the most difficult. Most city folk are convinced that they would be able to afford food if it was produced 'organically' and don't care about others.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Sheepwheat, I have an answer for you pass on to your city people.
I realize this doesn't apply everywhere, but certainly is the case here.
If the city people would quit coming out and buying perfectly good farmland and taking it out of production so they have a place to ride their quads or pasture three horses Park their RVs, and build their Mcmansion with the 20 acre lawn and half mile long driveway, driving up the price of every other acre of farmland, while depleting the supply;
That maybe those of us who have to pay for farmland with what it produces could afford to leave some unproductive areas.
But when competing with purchasers who have no respect at all for the productive value of farmland, and use income from other sources to pay for it, I have to make the most of every acre that I am paying for in order to make this a viable business with land at these artificially inflated prices.

[jazz]

Sheep next time you get an urbanite cornered ask them if their car payment should be higher than their monthly grocery bill.

[bucket]

My point is ...NCC makes ranchers peasants. Whoever ranches this land as it would never qualify as farmland is renting it and doing the conservation work that the Mackies have done for probably over 50 years.

NCC will have rules and I have seen their idea of pasture conservation...they are a land aggregator. Funded by government.

[Richard5]

Sheep next time you get an urbanite cornered ask them if their car payment should be higher than their monthly grocery bill.

That's a good question

How about these additional ones:

a) Do you really need a gas guzzling super duty, Escalade or Helicat to get to your job everyday?

b) How much true equity do you actually have in all of those toys, house and vehicles?

c) If you can't answer those questions honestly, get the f of my front lawn

[helmsdale]

That's a good question

How about these additional ones:

a) Do you really need a gas guzzling super duty, Escalade or Helicat to get to your job everyday?

b) How much true equity do you actually have in all of those toys, house and vehicles?

c) If you can't answer those questions honestly, get the f of my front lawn

They're coming for the guy with the super duty and triple axle quad slide toy hauler that gets hauled to the lake twice a year.

They're coming for the guys with wild capital appreciation in their primary, let alone secondary/tertiary residence as well.

Theres a whole pile of lower middle class, or dare I say upper poverty class that will be demanding it all the while feeling secure that THEIR meager slice of paradise is theirs and theirs alone...

Weve consumed ourselves as of late with slicing the pie into equal portions rather than growing the whole pie!

[woodland]

My ancestors came out here with nothing a century ago and the only goal was to own some dirt. Still the same goal today…………..

The urban sprawl seems to have no issues with paving over potato ground and sloughs in their way. The coal mines chewed through creeks, sloughs, farmyards, and everything else in the way. I’m unapologetic in trying to produce economical quality food for the masses and provide for my family as well. Having cows wading in sloughs when there’s a waterer 500 feet away isn’t good for anyone either.

We’ve taken out a lot of fence lines in order to put up new fence. Some folks said I should build a new fence beside the trees but deadfall is magnetically attracted to shiny barb wire here.

I have pipelines, power lines, oil wells, coal mines, power plants, gravel pits in my back yard, and live in the middle of nowhere with poor services. All the things that nobody wants to deal with. All I ask is to just let me be…………………

Just got back from an afternoon of appointments in town and would’ve rather been in the pen of calves that got weaned yesterday. Both were loud and chaotic but I know one will be peaceful and glad to see me next week………🍀

[Retired]

Sure is nice to see you are all SAINTS and only trying to feed the hoi-ploi (aka as the un washed masses) and has nothing to do with greed.
Most of the small to mid size farmers around here all shake there head in wonder at all the spraying and draining of wet lands by the BTOs to sc**** every sq yard of dirt, we all made a decent living and still left some for the wildlife and just for the sake of looking at the trees now and then.

[helmsdale]

Sure is nice to see you are all SAINTS and only trying to feed the hoi-ploi (aka as the un washed masses) and has nothing to do with greed.
Most of the small to mid size farmers around here all shake there head in wonder at all the spraying and draining of wet lands by the BTOs to sc**** every sq yard of dirt, we all made a decent living and still left some for the wildlife and just for the sake of looking at the trees now and then.

There are plenty that are approaching, and for that matter have become that which your name implies, and the one common thread I've seen is $'s matter.

Yes, plenty of prior generations made due without the sloughs, and bushland (disclosure: we have none... but we do have occasional spring flooding lowland) but as to AF5's point, you can't offer top $, and also farm just the stuff that put food on the table of the prior generation. Perhaps you settled for less on the promise that the new owner would farm things somewhat resembling your past practices. If so, then good on you sir.

There are many that are not nearly as charitable as you. Its hard to resist the $'s that come with the highest offer. But surely the highest offer also means the buyer feels confident they can garner the largest return... and in that case bush/low land stands directly in their way.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

My point is ...NCC makes ranchers peasants. Whoever ranches this land as it would never qualify as farmland is renting it and doing the conservation work that the Mackies have done for probably over 50 years.

NCC will have rules and I have seen their idea of pasture conservation...they are a land aggregator. Funded by government.

I certainly agree with you here, How many of our ancestors came here where they could own the land they farm, to get away from virtual serfdom. And now we are reverting back to that again. Becoming landless peasants.